Press quotes

5* Publico Portugal - Quartetos Iluminados

5* BBC Music Magazine - CD of the Month

September2017

'It was the interpretation of No. 5 that blind-sided me on a first listening...This is a deeply absorbing reading, and can make other interpretations seem almost trite. It’s partly the sheer timbral and dynamic range on offer: each note is given its resonance, keening dissonances fully realised, high lines lent a fine spun, fragile beauty.'

5* The Guardian - Haydn op.20 4-6

BBC Record Review

July2017

“A dramatically daring reading…the dark timbres of their gut strings allowing them to find a sometimes astonishing range of dynamics and colours, and they’re never shy of seizing on any improvisatory element to Haydn’s phrasing. ”

5* Chiaroscuro Concert in Stockholm

Gramophone - Haydn op.20

November2016

"...Memorable, too, are their fine line-drawing and acute response to the ebb and flow of harmonic tension in No 1's Affetuoso e sostenuto (repeats, as ever, imaginatively rethought), and their shaping and colouring of the paired middle movements of No 2...a reminder that sensitive gradations of piano, pianissimo and even (at the enigmatic close of No 3) ppp are among the chief strengths of these thoughtful, fine grained performances."

4* BBC Music Magazine - Haydn op.20

November2016

“Where they surpass those earlier ‘period’ performances is in the radiant refinement of their sound, and their suave sensitivity of the phrasing. One hears this immediately in easeful launch of the E flat, Op.20 No. 1, and the intimate dying fall Ibragimova imparts to the little solo leading to the second subject.”

The Strad - Haydn op.20

November2016

"The Chiaroscuro Quartet lives up to its name in these imaginative, flexible accounts of the first three of Haydn’s six ‘Sun’ Quartets, introducing a wide range of dynamic nuances and strong contrasts of light and shade. With tempos, blend and balance finely judged, these are period-instrument performances of the utmost subtlety and refinement, conveyed with technical assurance in an easy-going, conversational manner and captured in exemplary fashion by BIS’s recording team."

4* BBC Music Magazine

Gramophone

April2015

There is no doubt that there is the sort of energy on this disc, particularly in the Mendelssohn, that is hard to find anywhere else [...] this ensemble is without a doubt a trailblazer for the authentic performance of High Classical chamber music.

4* The Irish Times

March2015

The historically concerned players of Alina Ibragimova’s Chiaroscuro Quartet bring the works closer together than you might expect, handling the Mendelssohn in a way that’s more tonally austere than usual, the Mozart in a way that’s more personal and romantic. Common to both is the deep consideration to which the music has been subjected, and the players’ willingness to embrace unorthodox outcomes

BBC Radio 3

February2015

Daring, emotionally uncompromising playing from Chiaroscuro, with first violinist Alina Ibragimova taking risks with the recitative like writing, the quartet never shying away from the bold, bare sound they can produce with their gut string instruments, especially in the opening of Mozart’s D Minor quartet, which is the coupling, but it’s also the musicianship of great warmth as I hope you heard … a really intelligent piece of programming.” Andrew McGregor / BBC Radio 3

5* The Scotsman

5* BBC Music Magazine Choice

September2012

This is an impressive debut recording, and the light and shade of the playing fully justifies the name the group has chosen for itself...It’s not often you hear period instrument playing of such consummate and seemingly effortless virtuosity.

Herald Scotland

August2013

Their technique is impeccable only
players of the highest calibre could risk such an exposed, unadorned
approach and make it sound this good and
their unanimous musical intuition makes consistent sense so
that every phrase takes the space it needs and every gesture feels natural.